College football is a significant part of American culture and a revenue source for many schools. At first thought, college football is associated with large Division I programs within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) with fanfare, traditions, and national following. However, most college football athletes do not play at the Division I level. As such, there is a gap in the research about the experiences of student athletes within programs of smaller colleges and universities, particularly schools in the National Association for Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). Additionally, students of diverse populations, particularly Black and African American students, regularly comprise a greater portion of the football roster than they do the general student enrollment at most institutions. This variation in representation coupled with the lower graduation rates of Black and African American males is the impetuous for this study. Using the framework of Bronfenbrenner's Bioecological Systems Theory (2005) this phenomenological study was conducted to attempt to begin to fill the gap in literature about the experiences of Black or African American college football athletes at NAIA institutions. Using semi-structured interviews, six participants from four different institutions were interviewed three times each. The interviews resulted in five themes, each of which connected to the defined systems of Bronfenbrenner (2005) as applied to the present study. Systems within the model are individual, micro, meso, exo, and macro. The findings yielded five themes to include: Athletics as a Way of life, representing microsystems, Recruitment Process and Campus Arrival, rooted in microsystems and exosystems, Campus Athletic Experience, connected to mesosystems, Circle of Support, representing mircosystems, and Life Outside Athletics, linked to microsystem and mesosystems. The study concludes with recommendations for institutional practice, aspiring college athletes and for future research. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]